Page 82 - Homes & Antiques (February 2020)

The linen curtains in the
couple’s bedroom are by
Timorous Beasties. Esther
made the bone china
Madonna lamp with the
handblown glass shade.
BELOW The tasselled lamp
is from Curiousa & Curiousa
and the large gilt-framed
mirror with original glass is
from a local antiques shop.
inspired her to start Curiousa &
Curiousa. ‘I’d been making lamps out
of slipcast bone china. One day, a
glassblower visited the college. I asked
him to blow one of my lamps. It took
him an a!ernoon – mine had taken six
months. That was a eureka moment.’
Graduating with a "rst, Esther
shoehorned her furniture and
wallpaper designs into a stand at the
London Design Fair, where her
trailblazing lights scooped an Elle The Owners
Decoration award. ‘No one was doing Designers Esther
contemporary coloured lights, so we Patterson and Paul
stood out.’ Liberty placed an order. Carr live here with
Harvey Nichols, The Royal Albert Hall their children, Gabriel
and Jamie Oliver (who has the lights in and Lydia, and their
his kitchen) followed suit. collie, Gwen.
From a workshop in a caravan, the
business has grown to a sta# of nine The Property
with a showroom in London. A new A 1700s malthouse
converted into a
range of waterproof lights has large open-plan
introduced colour to bathrooms and living space with two
Esther hopes to put her hand-painted bedrooms at each
wallpapers into production. The glass end. Esther and Paul
is blown in Derbyshire, the lights run the arts cinema,
assembled in the factory that once Northern Light
made red tape. ‘I can’t imagine making (thenorthernlight
our pieces anywhere else. I’d feel as if cinema.co.uk), on the
I’d lost a bit of my soul.’ ground floor.

82 Homes & Antiques February 2020